{"id":79070,"date":"2013-06-26T17:44:23","date_gmt":"2013-06-26T21:44:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_ms_news\/?p=5853"},"modified":"2022-05-04T21:58:01","modified_gmt":"2022-05-05T01:58:01","slug":"wilderness-explorers-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wilderness-explorers-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Wilderness Explorers"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Teresa Pitman<\/p>\n

\"Callista<\/a>My granddaughter Callista is planning to be a veterinarian when she grows up. In fact, she informed me, she intends to specialize in caring for \u201chorses, giraffes and snakes.\u201d (That should make for an interesting mix in the waiting room of her future clinic!) Knowing that, you won\u2019t be surprised to hear that Animal Kingdom is her favorite WDW park.<\/p>\n

But she discovered a new reason to love Animal Kingdom on our most recent trip: The Wilderness Explorers have arrived! Russell from the movie Up was a Wilderness Explorer, as you may recall, and visitors to AK now have the opportunity to take part in some troop activities and earn badges. Callista thoroughly enjoyed becoming a Wilderness Explorer and the activities kept her interested and engaged all day.<\/p>\n

On Discovery Island, near the entrance, you\u2019ll find the Wilderness Explorer Headquarters, where you can get a handbook and pencil, learn the Explorer motto, and start out on your badge-collecting journey. If you miss it, no worries, you can pick up handbooks and start gathering badges at many other spots along the way. There\u2019s no charge for this, it\u2019s included in park admission.<\/p>\n

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\"Callista<\/a>So how do you earn a badge? The map inside the handbook (which is sturdy and attractively-designed) lists the locations for Explorers to head to; on a corresponding page in the book you\u2019ll find instructions and items to be completed. When you\u2019ve finished your assignment, show it to a troop leader at the location and the appropriate badge (a sticker) will be pasted in your handbook.<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t have to do these in any particular order, and some may not be available at any particular time. For example, the gorillas had already gone in for the night by the time we reached their area so we were not able to do the gorilla activity on this trip.<\/p>\n

The activities were just challenging enough to be fun for Callista, at age eight, but none were especially difficult. Troop leaders were on hand to give hints and a little assistance when needed. In many areas, the troop leaders gave short (but enthusiastic!) presentations or asked questions of the visitors to teach them more about the concepts they were learning.<\/p>\n

Some examples:<\/p>\n